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Winter Camp – 2026

This was the first and truly unique format of our specialized Tatar Alan camps.
From the very first days of January, Tatar youth gathered in Silicon Valley to immerse themselves in the life of students at Stanford University, walk through the campus of University of California, Berkeley, and attend talks and webinars led by speakers from Google, LinkedIn, and other top companies based in San Francisco.
Alongside a strong educational and career-focused program, the camp placed a major emphasis on Tatar identity, history, and culture.
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Program Structure

🎓 Educational & Career Track

  • Lecture from Software Engineer
  • Workshop: Creating a website using AI tools (Gemini)
  • Webinar with a Technical Leader on AI technologies
  • Stanford University campus tour
Meeting with a PhD student: admissions, student life, and PhD perspectives
    • UC Berkeley campus tour
Presentation by a Master’s student at Berkeley: admissions, student life, academic programs
  • Panel discussion with: DesignOps Consultant, Figma Community Advocate, and Founder of xOpsToday; Senior Product Manager; Engineering Manager at Airbnb.
  • Presentation at LinkedIn
  • LinkedIn campus tour
  • Meeting with a Technical Program Manager

🌿 Tatar Cultural Track

  • Immersive takmaklar (traditional Tatar folk performances)
  • Tatar muncha (sauna) experience
  • Culinary master class: Kystyby
  • Visit to the San Francisco Tatar Community (ATTA)
  • Evening performances at the Tatar Bina with Zarina Vildanova
  • Tatar Karaoke party
  • Visit to the Tatar Museum
    Meeting with Ilhan Sadri and a private guided tour of downtown
  • Work on real Tatar camps projects, websites
The camp was organized in collaboration with our local partner Ildus Ahmadullin. It brought together participants aged 14–25, working in two groups under the guidance of two educator-curators.

Ilhan Sadri

A prominent and respected leader within the Tatar community of the San Francisco Bay Area, best known for his long-serving tenure as the President of the American Turko-Tatar Association of San Francisco (ATTA). A dedicated cultural preservationist, his work is centered on safeguarding and revitalizing Tatar heritage for future generations. Mr. Sadri has channeled his passion into several key initiatives, including the revival of historical artifacts, the collection of numerous Tatar cultural attributes, and spearheading the important effort to digitize and preserve traditional Tatar music from the past.

Zarina Vildanova

Lead educator of the Winter Camp. A professional singer and songwriter who performs in Tatar. She is the soloist of the women’s choir Melodia in New York, an artist of the independent Tatar label Yummy Music, and a soloist with the Alfiya Avzalova Foundation. A laureate of the Ballet Beyond Borders festival, Zarina has been nominated for the Berlin Music Video Awards and is a winner of the London Music Video Awards. Dedicated to promoting and preserving her cultural heritage, she shares the richness of Eastern traditions with audiences worldwide. In the United States, she actively works to sustain and pass on Tatar culture within the local Tatar community, while balancing her artistic career with motherhood. Trained in jazz and contemporary vocals at GITIS and the Kazan Musical College, Zarina combines strong academic foundations with bold artistic experimentation.

Turan Apakay

The President of the American Turkic-Tatar Association (ATTA) and a seasoned communications professional dedicated to the preservation of Tatar heritage in the United States. Based in San Francisco, he leads ATTA’s mission to promote cultural identity through strategic community programming, fundraising, and the organization of landmark events like the annual Sabantuy festival. Beyond his executive leadership, Turan leverages his extensive background in public relations and marketing to spearhead educational initiatives that bridge the gap between generations. By sharing vital insights into the history of Tatar migration and national identity, he plays a crucial role in ensuring that the rich legacy of the Tatar people continues to thrive within the diaspora.

🔖Reflection

A strong emphasis throughout the program was placed on reflection, personal growth, and educational awareness.
Participants took part in:
  • daily group reflection sessions 
  • personal feedback sessions
Before each new day, students completed short reflection forms with guiding questions to help them prepare for the topic, field, or speaker they were about to meet.
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Headliners

Farid Sabitov

DesignOps consultant and enthusiast with 10+ years of experience in tech and experience design. Currently works at EPAM, supporting Fortune 500 companies in evolving their Design and Product Operations. Figma Community Advocate for the DesignOps Chapter. Founder of xOpsToday. Focused on improving collaboration, automation, and efficiency within design teams. Active speaker and contributor, sharing expertise through talks and publications. Strong advocate for breaking down silos between DesignOps, ProductOps, and DevOps to create a more integrated and effective product development lifecycle.

Liliya Sabitova

Senior Product Manager at TikTok with 10+ years of experience in the tech industry. Extensive background across both B2B and B2C product environments. Professional experience in multiple countries and with companies ranging from startups to large enterprises. Strong strategic mindset, with a proven ability to launch new products and scale existing ones for global audiences.

Amre Shakim

Engineering Manager with 10+ years of experience in the tech industry. Former Engineering Manager for the Data Frameworks team at Airbnb. Led teams building tools, services, and frameworks to improve product productivity and reliability. Previously worked at Apple, leading a team within the AI/ML Data Platform organization. Experience across startups and large tech companies. Strong background in distributed systems and infrastructure.

Zhanat Abylkassym

Technical Program Manager (TPM) leader with extensive experience in driving complex technical programs across major tech companies like Amazon, AWS, Uber, and Robinhood. Currently at LinkedIn, he leads a team of TPMs within the AI Platform, focusing on scaling AI innovations. Beyond his corporate role, he is a dedicated community builder, known for organizing the global TPM Summit and spearheading the TPM Trails network to connect professionals in the field. He is also the author of the book "Evangelizing the TPM Craft," which reflects his commitment to advancing the TPM profession and sharing knowledge within the community. His career journey has spanned various roles, from co-founding a web development studio to product and country management at Yandex, giving him a diverse foundation in technical, leadership, and product management skills.

ildus Ahmadullin

Seasoned Technical Leader focusing on Machine Learning and AI technologies with over a decade of experience developing and launching impactful products at the world's leading technology companies. His career includes multiple tenures at Google, along with key roles as a Staff and Tech Lead Machine Learning Engineer at Meta, Apple, and Celonis. He possess deep expertise in building and optimizing ML models for complex systems, particularly in search and advertising, with a focus on query understanding, relevance, ranking, and campaign optimization. His work has been central to services like Apple Maps Search, Google Search, and Amazon's Search Engine. This strong industry background is complemented by foundational postdoctoral research at Hewlett-Packard Laboratories in automated publishing, showcasing a long-standing passion for applying sophisticated models to solve real-world problems.

Omar Alhinnawi

Software Engineer at Google, where he currently focuses on enhancing Google Pixel phone software following his impactful work on AI infrastructure within Google Cloud. A 2024 graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology, Omar brings a robust technical foundation strengthened by prestigious internships at both Amazon and Apple. Known for his down-to-earth personality and collaborative spirit, he blends high-level technical expertise in scalable systems with a genuine passion for mentorship and community engagement.

Aivar Abrashuly

Silver medalist of International Physics Olympiad, bronze medalist of Asian Physics Olympiad, four-time gold medalist of National Physics Olympiad (2014-2017), high school graduate of Kazakh-Turkish High school, an undergraduate researcher in "Metamaterials Modeling and Design Group". Currently doing Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at Stanford University.

This camp is not just a collection of unique opportunities for children. Yes, it offers high-quality networking, powerful insights, and a wealth of new information that broadens horizons. But the true value of this project lies elsewhere — in building a community where learning, support, and responsibility are shared.
 
Around the Academy, a living community is taking shape — one in which parents, educators, and children themselves move in the same direction, supporting one another and sharing common values. This is a collective effort, where everyone is willing to invest and give the very best they have.
 
Different families, speakers step forward to take on organizational roles, generously sharing their knowledge, opportunities, and resources for the sake of the next generation. We deeply believe that young people absorb this example — and will carry it forward in the future.
 
Participant

Participant

The most useful part for me was simply being surrounded by people who share the same background. It’s rare to find this kind of environment, and being able to discuss our shared culture and experiences without having to explain myself was so nice. Moreover, I came here hoping to reconnect with my roots, and I definitely achieved that. I feel much closer to my heritage now than I did before arriving, and I'm leaving with a new sense of pride in our culture. I especially loved the visit of the Tatar Museum, the San Francisco Area, along with the house of the ATA of SF. The nightly games and the visit to Ildus abi’s house (+ muncha) were the cherry on top. If I had to pick something to improve, I’d just say I wish the camp was longer! It felt like the time flew by too fast. I think it would’ve also helped with the tiredness levels to spread out the activities a bit :). All in all I absolutely loved all the people, the warm sense of community, and everyone’s enthusiastic involvement in each and every activity. I also extremely appreciate the sheer efforts that were put in by the organizers, since it is no easy feat to pull off such a successful event.

Participant

Participant

One thing I especially liked during the camp was that we got more independence, and had our own houses. The most useful part in my opinion was that a majority of the speakers were tatar or associated with that culture, making it easier to connect with them. The camp was what I expected it to be but it was more action packed then I expected (in a good way). I think it was a great learning opportunity, but also very good for making new friends and networks.

Participant

Participant

Today I learned so much. I got to speak to the speaker Amre about my current career hurdles. I find it hard to find people to speak to about it and am very thankful he was included in the panel today. The muncha was amazing and karoake was too. The drive over the golden bridge was fun with everyone picking music and dealing with the speaker. My soul is very happy after today.

Participant

Participant

I liked going to the big companies. Most usefull part was learning about AI. Yes I achieved what I hoped. This was a great opportunity and will surely help me in the future. Thank you so much.

Participant

Participant

The importance of Tatar culture. I felt connected before, but seeing the efforts and specific history of ATTA motivated me more. Seeing Ilhan’s efforts and history resonated with me.

Parent

Parent

Ильдус, Алимэ, Гүзәл, Нияз һәм Зарина! Сезгә мең-мең рәхмәтле— бу балалар өчен шундый мөһим һәм онытылмаслык матур тәҗрибә оештырганыгыз өчен! Шулкадәр уйлап эшләнгән, белем биреп алып барылган, зур тырышлык, көч һәм вакыт таләп иткән эшегез өчен чын күңелдән рәхмәт. Иң мөһиме — балаларга шундый матур үрнәк күрсәткәнегез өчен хэм Сэлэт рухын биргэнегез очен аерым рәхмәт сезгә! Исән-сау булыгыз, Ходай Тәгалә сезгә саулык-сәламәтлек, кызыклы һәм яхшы түләнә торган эшләр, гаилә бәхете насыйп итсен. Баш иеп, Чын күңелдән зур рәхмәтләр!!!

Parent

Parent

Алима, Ильдус, Гузель, Марат … все, кто принимал участие- вы лучшие, честное слово. Не гугл и не стенфорд главные в этой поездке, но вы, те, кто показывает нашим детям искренность, доброту, заботу, на самом деле это настолько уникально во все времена, что наши дети принимают вас, растворяются в этой теплоте и их сердца открываются, и наши тоже вместе с ними. И главное о чем я молюсь: чтобы они это прочувствовали, осознали и стали следующими, кто будет делать столько добра в этой жизни. Спасибо еще раз!

Parent

Parent

Ильдус абы, Алима, Гузель и все кто участвовал огромное вам спасибо за организацию и гостеприимство! Два часа слушали как было все классно! Пусть Всевышний одарит вас всеми благами! Я в восторге от Вашего энтузиазма и терпения! Пусть все ваши благие намерения с которыми вы организовали этот проект Всевышний вернет вам уделом оттуда откуда вы его не ждете! Вы супер! Я очень рада что познакомилась с вами! Наши дети вас очень полюбили! Пусть Всевышний дарует вам здоровья, бараката, терпения ждем с нетерпением Ваших следующих проектов!!!